[SmithL]

Cal graduate student Michael Park was the first person in nearly 70 years to spot a Mount Diablo Buckwheat plant.

EXCLUSIVE

Three plants exist only on Mount Diablo and nowhere else in the world. They are:

• Mount Diablo buckwheat

• Mount Diablo bird's-beak

• Mount Diablo jewel-flower

Eight other plant species occur almost exclusively on Mount Diablo but extend to other nearby places.

[snarks_when_bored]

The 'Holy Grail' found on 'Devil's Mountain'? What the hell? In heaven's name, can this be true?

[martin_fierro]

"OTAY, OTAY, YOU FOUND ME!"

[hattend]

So much for hiking in that park. Humans not allowed so a flower can be brought back from the brink of extinction. Which leads me to ask: It was thought extinct, it's not now, how has life changed? If it was extinct again, who would notice - besides Michael Park?

Interesting that all these birds, salamanders, plants are now being "rediscovered". Sounds like more chances of land grabs and putting public land off limits to the public.

[Gingersnap]

First they found that bird down South, now this buckwheat has reappeared. I fully expect that somebody will find both Jimmy Hoffa and a flock of Passenger Pigeons within the next 5 years.

[SunkenCiv]

related anecdote:

Beal, a botanist at Michigan State University in the 19th c (I believe) started an experiment. He buried twelve mason jars containing representative samples of common weed / wildflower seeds. Each ten years he'd dig up a jar and see how many would germinate. After his death, the secret burial location was preserved, and circa 1980 the last of the jars was opened (the longest botanical experiment in history, if memory serves). Over 40 per cent of the seeds germinated, despite the passage of 120 years.

:')